Halloween Land

The night before last I had a most memorable dream. Since then, I've done my best to keep it at the forefront of my mind. Dreams have a way of vanishing from memory if care isn't taken to hold on to them. Then, they lay dormant in our memories unless some event triggers a recollection of them. Well, I'm trying to hold on to this one for as long as I can because it was magnificent.

Nothing of significance occurred on Sunday night's excursion into the dreamscape. Rather, it was the dreamscape itself that I remember as magnificent. That's because I suddenly found myself in Halloween. That's the only way I can describe it.

As the nighttime fantasy began to unfold I found myself in the kitchen of an unfamiliar house. There were Halloween decorations scattered about on the wall, and I seem to remember a decorative dish towel hanging from the oven handle on the stove--and what a stove it was! The appliance was large, heavy and ancient. It hearkened back to something from the nineteenth century, with its cast-iron burner plates and imposing appearance. The house itself seemed something out of an earlier time.

I remember gazing out the two windows from my position across the well lit room and I saw darkness. Night had fallen; it was time to go.

Suddenly, I was on Dickson Street. In real life that's where my city's entertainment district is centered. But the Dickson Street I encountered in my dream was an even more festive place. As a matter of fact, there was a carnival atmosphere all along the strip. It was nighttime; yet, the whole area was bathed in an orange hue. There were Jack o' lanterns and images of witches everywhere as Clowns stood around in front of the various booths performing tricks.

I noticed that there were spinning wheels behind the counters at some of the booths. While there's nothing unusual about that in a carnival setting, I realized that these were all Halloween wheels, very much like the one appearing at the top of this page. I find it interesting that I found a photo that so closely matches the objects that I saw while watching the festivities.

Dreams such as this never last long enough, and I would have lingered in that Halloween landscape for a much longer time had there been a choice in the matter. The thing is, the place I found myself in seemed very real. Most importantly, I could actually feel Halloween. I find it hard to explain this, but it was almost as though Halloween were a living thing. I was inside of it, a part of it, and could feel it to my core.

Do you remember how magical Halloween, Christmas or other event seemed as a child? Hard as you might try, you can't re-create the magical feelings you had back then, can you? My dream experience was like that only stronger, and I struggle to find words adequate enough to convey what it was like being in that Halloween dreamscape.

With Monday night's experience still somewhat fresh in my memory, I can't help but wonder if perhaps there's a Halloween Land that lies somewhere beyond our physical reality. If it does exist, I want to pay it another visit some night, when I can spend more time.